I want you to go back with me twenty seven years if you can.
I was single.
A girlfriend of mine was having her baby shower that day. I was a lector at St. Michael's Cathedral and for years had read on Palm Sunday. I had to choose between being a faithful friend, or a faithful lector.
It was a heart wrenching decision, because she was my best freind from elementary school and I loved her very much, but I was internally torn because I really felt God calling me to remain faithful to my calling as a lector. The scheudle had been set months out. Reading at the Cathedral involved many workshops, preparation and practice. It felt like a sacred schedule.
So, after much
contemplation and prayer
I decided to remain faithful to my duties as a lector on Palm Sunday.
Deciding to read on Palm Sunday instead of going to the baby shower had two sets of consequences.
My girlfriend was hurt and very disappointed in me. I had prayed much about the decision and was prepared to take any fallout, I had a strange peace about the whole thing. I knew I was going to be judged as being "too religious" and not faithful enough to my duties as a good friend, but everything in me directed me to keep my commitment at St. Michael's Cathedral. http://www.torstm.com/StMikes/
So, I went ahead and did my reading and
on that very day.....
another lector reading happened to be very handsome.
For some strange reason, he asked me to help him button the top button on his lectors gown. After mass, he asked me out for a coffee. The coffee turned out to be a dinner.
I talked to him for hours about everything under the sun. I was vulnerable, a little unsteady about the upcoming consequences of my decision.
Well ladies and gentlemen, we eventually got married. That Palm Sunday mass was our first date! We got married in the chapel of St. Michael's Cathedral -- just so happened to be exactly the same place his parents got married too!
As for my girlfriend? She ended up being the maid of honour at my wedding. She is still my very very good friend. God has blessed me in so many different ways...
So, please do tell me,
How did you meet your husband?
10 comments:
Great post, Dorothy! When I was 16 years old, my parents were very strict and would not let me out with my friends as often as I would have liked. My older sister met her husband in our parish youth group. I used to tell my Mom that I would not be meeting my husband in Church like my sister did. A few years later, while I was a member of our parish youth group I met the young man who is now my husband of 15 years. "Want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."
Oh my goodness! That's too funny! My mom seems to be getter brighter the older I get! It's funny how it all works for the good! Yours is a GREAT story too! WOW!
I met my hubby at work. He saw me the first time I walked in for my interview, in my little blue interview suit, fresh out of college. He befriended me (he was 36 and I was 22) and we started to hang out together. After about 1.5 years I broke my ankle and he brought me crutches at 11pm and stayed up with me late. My mom said "He's in love with you." and I said "No, he isn't." I was so dumb :) Because I could not walk w/o crutches I couldn't hang out the laundry or go grocery shopping, etc. So every Saturday he would take me to the laundromat and the supermarket etc. Then one day in 1989 he kissed me and that was it! We've been together ever since. We wound up dating for 4.5 years before our wedding day for a few reasons but our wedding was lovely and we have been blessed with a happy marriage these almost 19 years.
I love your beautiful story, Dorothy! How wonderful you and your future husband met with Jesus actually TRULY present in the room! A destined relationship unfolded during Holy Mass. May God continue to bless you and your family, Dorothy!
Thank you Donna for taking the time to read my post... Thank you for taking the time to comment. You know.... I never thought of it that way... Meeting with "Jesus actually TRULY present in the room" !!! Thank you so very much for that BEAUTIFUL... BEAUTIFUL.... perspective! What a marvelous anniversary gift !!!!
Congratulations, Dorothy, on your anniversary! I love your story and especially Donna-Marie's comment. You were faithful to God, and He was, of course, faithful to you.
in 1994 my employer the ATO (Australian Taxation Office) was opening up a branch in Wollongong and asked for volunteers to staff it, so it was a bit of a hard decision to leave Adelaide but I needed a change. Just before I left, I was talking with Rosalia, a good friend of my current wife, and she asked me if I'd like to write to er friend in the Philippines, so I thought, 'sure, why not?' so I did, but little did I know that the letter would land on her desk on exactly her birth day, Feb.12 then we began writing and I asked her if she'd like to fly over and take a holiday in NSW but I did not know that the wages there were so pathetic that most people could barely take holidays at all, so she asked me to fly over there and so I did, met her, proposed to her on romantic volcanic Camiguin Island, and the rest, as they say, is history...
What a wonderful story! It's neat that you ask how we met our husbands, because that is a question we always ask our friends in our Mom's Group. We have such funny stories, we want to write a book! Mine? My husband and I were study partners and best friends for 2 years at college, studying the in the same major, before things turned romantic. What a great way to get to know someone, up late studying, just friends, so there was no pressure to impress. We knew each other better than anyone else. It was wonderful. 10 years of marriage later, that statement is still true! Thanks for asking, I love reading how everyone met their spouse!
I first met my husband when my brother brought him home with him for a visit. My brother had just made a retreat and my husband had been on the retreat team. Several months later I made that same retreat (female version) and started attending prayer meetings. My husband was always there, every week, playing his guitar and singing. After that part of the meeting was over we always had a social time. I remember wanting to talk to him, but I was shy. He finally asked me out when a friend convinced him. We attended a mutual friend's wedding together and three months later we were engaged. 33 years later we are still married and still going to church together. That to me is a big accomplishment. Our nest of 5 children is gradually getting emptier. It's kind of nice to have him all to myself most of the time now. :)
GREAT story!! And what a wonderful turnout! Thanks for sharing!!
A mutual friend introduced me and my hubby.
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